The beginning of August

Welcome August.
We saw our first buck in velvet close to home while having coffee in the morning. He was walking amongst several does who just stared at him as he walked through the neighbor's field and woods.

Something alarmed the gals and they took off to the west while the buck took off to the east. They look hazy because of the smoke and some fog.

I have 4 o'clocks blooming all over the place. Each year, I collect the seeds and then randomly drop them into different areas.

Some of them have grown to nearly 5 feet tall and others are being entwined with morning glories.

It's a mess in this spot, but I am enjoying the mess. I may chop it all down after a frost and see what comes up again next year.

Thankfully, Little Richard has been busy helping with the yard work. I put him in some spots that seemed to be growing faster than the rest of the yard and he did a nice job overnight.

Mornings are still the best to go look at things in the garden. The past few mornings are cool with fog and smoke.

The bees are really busy in the pumpkin plants I planted ... ahem, sort of ... by accident in front of the house.

Actually, having them so close is nice. I can see how the bees work the flowers and I can watch the funky pumpkins grow!

These pumpkins are a cross between some gnarly bumpy pumpkins I had last year and the original whitish-yellow pumpkins I had. So it will be interesting to see how large they get. 

I have several other pumpkins in another spot in the pasture that I fenced off. 

I have tossed pumpkins in for the mules to eat the past few years and it seems that they eat them and then stomp the seeds into the ground.

Here are some more flowers to enjoy. All of them taken early in the morning with dew drops on them.

I sure do love the morning glories!

 

End of July

What does the end of July bring? Well, lots of flowers are blooming all over my yard. 

The hummingbirds and humming bird moths are crazy busy sucking up that nectar.

I put morning glories in several places this year. I put one right outside the porch door and let it climb up a shepherd's hook. 

Most of the flowers in front of the west porch area were variations of blue this summer. Of course, the Morning Glories take the cake!

 

July usually gives us a rest from mowing with a dry spell. Not this year. Mowing has to be done every 5 to 6 days. Maybe that is why I feel so behind on things. Days of wet, days and days of rain. No dry spells for the farmers to make hay.

The sunflowers are blooming too along with my Brown Eyed Susans. This is the first time I've grown them and they are doing so well.

In fact, they have been home to some elusive Crab Spiders. 

They hide under the petals of the flowers and wait for a meal to drop by. They are ambush spiders that don't create webs to catch their prey. 

August will bring the Orb Spiders out in force in the Meadow just east of us. That will be incredible to see again this year [hopefully]. Thousands of Orb Spider webs sparkling in the morning dew.

Air Quality was a huge factor on and off for July. Well, for this summer. Wildfires in the States and Canada are obviously contributing to the horrid atmosphere. However, the mules are pleased to be wandering a clipped pasture. The blueish haze is smoke.

We got a trip in to Cabela's yesterday and drove through driving rain. Hubby looked at the fish in their giant fish tank and was not impressed since he couldn't have any to eat.

On the way home, Steve as always took the scenic way home which includes as many back roads as possible.

This was a shot I took of the ridges above Prairie du Chien as we headed home. Shooting out the back window of a moving car is pretty challenging.

That's smoke too.

Today is much worse as the sun looks brownish and the haze is thick and smells bad.

Flower garden tour...

Just a walk around the house with my camera... well except for the Queen Anne's Lace and the white clover those flowers were in the yard.

Enjoy

 

The Flowers last hurrahs!

The cosmos and the Morning Glories out on the Wagon Wheel far from the house are having a majestic display right now.

I find that interesting as I haven't watered these plants in ages, only enough to get them started!

However I planted them near the leach field so I think they are flourishing on the moisture in that soil?

 

I have a riot of colors and the vines have grown onto the Orange Cosmos and dead Bachelor's Buttons that are still standing.

The 4 o'clocks are producing seeds like crazy right now. I take a bucket and shake their little black seeds right into the bucket for collection.

These flowers open in the evening with a heavenly scent. The hummingbirds love them. I have white, yellow, pink and this bright color. They close after the morning sun hits them and sometimes on a cloudy day, they will stay open most of the day.

I have Orange Cosmos, and a few bicolored cosmos flowers which are giving up their last hurrahs also. However, I finally figured out how to collect their seeds so I will have a huge mass of them next year!

The bees are still busy on the open blossoms. These flowers will blossom until the first frost.

The Nasturtiums make me smile as their vines creep onto the porch. I turn them so they don't crawl up to the door. Their blossoms are never ending and the leaves and blossoms are a tasty treat to just munch on or add to salads.

I even stuck a sweet potato in the ground that was sprouting [a store purchase]. It has the most beautiful purple leaves! I think I'll use some next year to add interest to my planters, they have a gorgeous color.

The coleus plants are all in buckets so I can move them easily. The one below with the sign marks Morris's place of rest between the pines.

I just thought it would be fun to have lights across these brightly colored plants now that the days are shorter.

This fake spider has resided in my succulent pie pan for ages. Kids get a great kick out of it and the little tiny hedgehogs that are placed around the plants.

I like fun critters in my garden...Oh!
Not the horse or mules though!

Now you can see how close to the house they are.  We love it that way. 

Here is the pallet garden and the shaded wildflower garden in the side yard. Messy looking, but full of beauty.
Next year the pallet garden will go all the way to the house so I don't have to mow that tiny square between the LP tank and the house.

Hopefully, this was not too much to bear in photos. But this is what keeps me hopping all year long. In the summer I tend the plants and in the winter I plan the plantings!

I have a lot of perennials to split and move, but I will have to wait until we actually get rain to dig in the rock hard ground.

I'm going to lay a tarp out on another section of the old veggie garden and mix it with flowers and perhaps some veggies next year. It will have to be small enough so I can weed it and hand cultivate it as I cannot run a tiller.

Enjoy these days with your flowers and take lots of photos to take you through the winter!

My Garden Piggy! She is

always so Happy!